Leading by a scant 6-5 at halftime in their South Coast Conference match against Mt. San Antonio College on Wednesday, the Cerritos College men's water polo team turned in a strong second half to post a 15-8 win. The win at the Falcon Aquatic Center improves the #4-ranked Falcons record to 23-9 overall and 4-1 in SCC play, while the Mounties dropped to 12-11 and 3-2. The win also means Cerritos will get the #2 seed for next week's South Coast Conference Tournament.

Although they never trailed in the game, the Falcons had a hard time fighting off Mt. SAC and went into intermission leading only 6-5 after Ruben Carrillo scored at the buzzer for the Mounties. But in the final two quarters, sophomore goalie Michael Skinas (La Serna HS) came up with one big save after another, while his teammates were putting some distance between them and their opponent. Skinas finished the game with 17 saves and three steals, with a great many of them coming before the outcome had been decided.

Offensively, freshman Miguel Garcia (Montebello HS) and sophomore Christian Flores (Montebello HS) each scored three goals, while five different players scored in the all-important third quarter, where the Falcons went up 11-7. No player scored more than once per quarter, with sophomores Daric Johnson (Whittier HS) and Rafael Romero (Montebello HS), along with freshman Christian Cordova (Montebello HS) all accounting for two goals, with Cordova and Flores both getting a goal in each of the final two quarters.

Sophomore Chad Castro (Whittier HS) scored his lone goal in the third quarter and added a team-high four steals, with Romero dishing out three assists.

Photo by Daryl Peterson